The Lieutenants of Nagash are here, with armies in tow. Here's GW's latest releases!Arkhan the Black, Neferata, & Mannfred, Mortarches of Stuff... $79

Arkhan the Black is Nagash’s foremost lieutenant and an adept student of his master’s sorceries. Ever a faithful servant, Arkhan oversaw the preparations for the Great Necromancer’s return and once again he is at the forefront of his master's schemes for domination.

Legends tell of a vampire queen who resides high in the Worlds Edge Mountains. The Queen of Mysteries does indeed exist, she fought at Nagash’s side againsts the armies of Nehekhara, and when the battle was lost she fled from his wrath . Those who know call her Neferata, which means ‘She who is beautiful in death’. Now, after thousands of years, the Great Necromancer has returned, and Neferata is presented with a choice: betray Nagash to his foes, or seek to gain redemption, once more earning a place at his side.

Mannfred von Carstein serves at Nagash’s right hand. It is an occupation which he greatly resents, and he is ever watchful for a means to free himself from his servitude to the Great Necromancer. Though some warriors judge themselves by the standards of the enemies they vanquish, Mannfred is no slave to conventions of honour or glory. Ends concern him far more than means; if the choice falls between slaughtering the meek and vanquishing the mighty, he chooses slaughter.

This multi-part plastic kit makes Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament. He is armed with weapons forged by Nagash’s own hand – Zefet-kar, the Tomb Blade and Khenash-an, the Staff of Spirits – which were awarded to him when he was reborn as the Liche King. Riding the dread abyssal known as Razarak, the Doom of Traitors, Arkhan presides over Nagash’s armies ensuring no detail escapes his unblinking gaze.

The full rules for using Arkhan the Black, Mortarch of Sacrament in games of Warhammer are included in Warhammer: Nagash. They can also be found in the construction booklet that accompanies the miniature.

Alternatively this kit can be assembled as Mannfred von Carstein, Mortarch of Night or Neferata, Mortarch of Blood.

Heroes of the Empire: Valten $66

The Army Bundles

Army of the Silver Pinnacle $160

The Army of the Silver Pinnacle is a multi-part plastic set which includes: 1 Coven Throne, 10 Tomb Guard, 20 Tomb Kings Skeletons, 20 Crypt Ghouls and 1 Banshee.

Blood courses between the cobbles of the streets of Nuln, oldest of imperial cities. Rioting mobs burn buildings along the river front and throughout the city nobles have been accosted and lynched. The City Guards and the Guards of the Arsenal fight to keep order. It is time to call in the state army to put down the uprising!

But high in the Schattenturm, darkest of towers, the Master of Shadow gazes down on the flames and whispers to himself "Wer profitiert? Who profits?" "For surely" he tells himself "some mind is behind this madness." And he knows that it very well could be the agents of the Under-Empire. They have struck at the city before. He had been there to stop them then. But this didn't feel like the work of the insidious ratmen. "This has the taint of Chaos about it" he mused. And he reflected on the manifestations that had afflicted Averheim recently and had drawn away from the city many of the clergy of the Temple of Sigmar, not to mention a small army of the faithful – soldiers and knights, and of course cannon. "But that was a month ago" he thought "and the demons vanished. The crusaders should have returned by now."

He turned from the window, to see the Brazen Lord of the College of Chamon arrayed before him, the light of the fires from the city glittering off his golden mask."Lord" said the Master of Shadow with a curt but courteous bow, "it is a pleasure. I was expecting you.""It is the work of Chaos" intoned the golden mage in a metallic rasp "as you have yourself divined. Likely the work of a cult or some such. Perhaps more disturbing yet, the wizards of Morr tell me that outside the city the dead walk."

The Master of Shadow closed his eyes. "Yes. There is an unseen hand. Or indeed hands" he said gently.The Brazen Lord went on "The Order of Hysh is at this very moment at the Great Temple of Sigmar, in conclave with the Arch Lector. The Emperor marches north. It seems there is to be a crusade.""A mistake" hissed the Master of Shadow. "Something comes. I have not seen it yet, but something comes from the mountains. Wissenland is not safe. We must warn the Countess.""Haven't you heard?" groaned the metallic mage, "Emmanuelle von von Liebewitz is missing."

Neferata is basicaly the only combat oriented of the 3 with asf and can turn the one she kills in duel in vampire and have a sword that lowers I T and S of target by 1 if the target doesn't die but take wounds

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You won't see Kemmler in the chaos book. I just finished reading Nagash, the number of dead special characters is grossly under reported. Even more so if you count ones from previous books. The carnage is indescribable. This is the greatest war hammer book I've ever read.

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Review first so those who don’t want to have the book spoiled for them don’t have to.I LOVE this book. I’m a big Josh Reynolds fan anyway but this scale of the story is what really blew my mind here. Yes the writing is solid, as I would expect from him, but it is the story that really steals the show.

In terms of characterization, we see a rather different version on Mannfred who is being haunted by the voice of Vlad in his head. It’s a really interesting way to look at the character and make him sympathetic and relatable without making him any less evil in what he’s getting up to. Arkhan is portrayed much as he was in Mike Lee’s fantastic Nagash trilogy and in Reynold’s Neferata novel. Nothing that new, but then why mess with what works so well. His philosophical bent really is very interesting. The only really interesting thing here is his interactions with the Fay Enchantress. That was weird but cool. The multiple other POV characters are all pretty good too. There is a nice mix of existing characters (both from other novels and special characters from the rulebooks) and while I won’t go through each one I can say that the style of writing and characterization for each is very accurate to what has come before.What has come before leads me to my last point. I love how the novel ties up with previous BL novels going back ages. There are references to early Gotrek and Felix stories, the Vampire Wars trilogy, Orion books, the Elf trilogy, huge amounts. The effort put in to linking it all together really is impressive, and as a fan, appreciated.

Right, now a summery. For the last time HERE BE SPOILERS!!! (highlight to read)

-See my previous write up of the scrying scene. -Mannfred has captured 9 religious figures (regular priests for Taal, Ranald, Shallya, Ulric and Morr, a Knight of Myrmidia, Volkmar for Sigmar, the daughter of the Everqueen and the Phoenix King and lastly Morgiana le Fay who was indeed delivered by Drycha and is now a vampire) and used them to create a wall of bone around Sylvania. Balthazar Gelt has tapped into that and also created a barrier of faith around the province. Mannfred has been summoning his forces. They can get in, but not out.-Arkhan has just lost in Brettonia when Mallobaude was killed by Giles le Breton returned. Is now in Sylvania. Is suggested that whole Brettonian civil war was just a distraction so Arkhan could get to La Maisontaal abbey but he failed.-The 2 meet, become allies (after a rather cool magical duel leaving no clear winner). Agree to gather the stuff to bring Nagash back. They still need 1) his staff from la Maisontaal, the Fellblade from the clan mordkin burrow in the Boarder Princes and the armour from an Empire castle just outside Sylvannia. Arkhan works out way through barrier. Arkhan goes Brettonia, Mannfred goes Border Princes.- Meanwhile in Athel Loren the Everqueen has arrived and promised to save the dying Ariel if the Wood Elves help save her daughter and in Ulthuan, Tyrion (after antagonizing Imrik) sends Eltharion, Belannaer and Eldrya to save the Everchild too as it is implied she’s actually his daughter, not Finubar’s (who has locked himself away to meditate, leaving the Elves leaderless).-Dwarf meeting of kings decides Sylvania is now a problem. Ungrim the slayer king leads army to cleanse province.-Malagor is gathering gigantic beastman horde in southern Brettonia. -Skaven have basically destroyed Tilea and Estalia and now doing the same to Araby and the Border Princes (thought the later has huge numbers of orcs too) -Arkhan attacks Maisontaal with Kemmler’s help. Tancred killed by Krell. Kemmler and Arkhan fight over staff. Kemmler rejects Nagash in favour of Chaos. Kemmler goes a bit spawny but Arkhan wins. Implied Kemmler is dead (though I personally very much hope not and that he’ll appear in the Chaos book). -Arkhan pestered by Malagor’s horde on way back. Krell stays behind to distract them but they follow into Sylvania.-Mannfred slaughters his way into Skaven burrow, gets Fellblade.- They meet up and go attack the Empire castle. Get armour. Go to Nine Daemons (and standing circle) to do ritual. Are now being followed by Beastmen, Dwarfs, Wood Elves, High Elves and remnants of Empire castle. -Dwarfs wipe out Beastmen but too weak to carry on. -Wood Elves are told they are needed elsewhere by the goddess Lileath. They disappear from Sylvania.-Humans and High elves team up, but human get impatient and go ahead. Killed by Mannfred’s army.-High Elves attack just as ritual is beginning. Mannfred to fight them off while Arkhan does ritual. Mannfred kills Belannaer in magical fight. Has sword fight with Eltharion but is beaten. Eltharion rushes past him to stop ritual but Arkhan kills him.-The remaining prisoners are killed as part of the ritual and Nagash is reborn from Volkmar’s body. The Everchild blasts some unknown light into Arkhan before he sacrifices her. He seems fine but will probably be a plot point later.-Mannfred is upset as he planned to bring Nagash back on his terms. Gets even more upset when in the epilogue Nagash brings Vlad back from the dead (Mannfred had only recently come to accept that the voice in his head was just his own self-doubt and that Vlad really was gone).-All forced to bow to Nagash who says “THE GREAT WORK CAN NOW COMMENCE”.

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Vlad is the standout for me in the new Undead Legions book (excluding Nagash). He gives -1 Ld to all enemy units within 12". And -1 to hit him (and any unit he is with) with shooting and close combat attacks.

You can take a Vampire and give him Aura of Dark Majesty. A tomb prince or king with magic res. Stick them in a unit of great weapon grave guard along with Vlad. You have:

- A WS5-WS6 unit hitting on 2's with the banner of the barrows- S6 killing blow wounding on 2's- Magic Res 2/3- Enemy units are at -2 Ld within 6"- Most infantry are hitting back on 5's

Just got some news from several sources concerning the strong possibility of 9th edition Warhammer Fantasy.

1) Coming tomorrow to a GW near you will be a series of new posters for in store advertisement for something BIG as the corporate email stated.2) Some GW stores are finding Island of Blood sets are being zeroed out of their system for restock. Similar when Dark Vengeance happened to Assault on Black Reach.3) This part is speculation: Bretonnians are going to be playing a big part in the Nagash saga in the beginning, it is believed the following is going to happen:

a) Pre-Order for 9th Edition will be Sept 13th (with special editions - standard new edition merchandising)b) October will receive the new box edition (if standard releases from past is an indicator) which may contain Bretonnians and Undead.c) Bretonnians will have a new Army book, model release following that, possibly into November before the Christmas packs roll in.d) intermingled among these releases will be probably some filler models (repackaged Crom/Valten/etc.), army bundles, etc.

4) Not of speculation, though it must be considered rumor, I (and a few chosen) have personally seen new artwork by John Blanche for Bretonnians. Does this mean it will be in the new book? No idea, but sometimes his stuff is used for the sculptors to pull concept to model.

Or we could be really blindsided by everything and it be 25 new paints (not very likely), Dark Eldar (possible) or something ridiculous like a mass Hobbit release. GW likes to have a strong second quarter launch that will help carry through 3rd quarter (end of February).

in 16 days , I can assure you that there is something big fantasy for September 20th .

Some will say , new edition .... I say no. It will be linked to the " End Times Anniversary- "Some will say , big or cool boxes minuaturas characters and limited editions .... I say you can.Some will say , "box to start warhammer (what a contradiction lol ) ... with two or more opposing armies ... I say very possible.Some say it comes Bretonnia ... I think something is fat but in 2015 .

In a Land of mist,the danger is closer still.Pride has ever been the folly of that shrouded land,and so it will be again.When the dragons fly as one,an ancient lie will be at last be exposed,a revelation that will shake Ulthuan to the roots of its mountains.The mirror of light and dark will shatter,and Aenarions heirs will fight for the legacy of Khaine amidst the ashes of the phoenix.

The priest fell silent as Mazdamundis corpulent bulk shifted upon the dais.The Great Plan has failed,the slann intoned heavily.The Exodus must begin.

You may remember last year I was being very vague about some 'radical changes' in a thread about 9th edition.

Back at the start of the year, in one of my first posts of the new year I said this:

I don't think they are trying to destroy it.I suspect they will be trying their hardest to breath new life into it.We are not seeing the "End times" for Warhammer just yet.

Did you see what I did there?The clues are always there fellas.

So I first heard about all this last autumn?I was told 2014 would be "Year zero" for Warhammer.

Had no idea what that meant at first but if you Google your way to the wikipedia you get this:

The term Year Zero, applied to the takeover of Cambodia in April 1975 by the Khmer Rouge, is an analogy to the Year One of the French Revolutionary Calendar. During the French Revolution, after the abolition of the French monarchy (September 20, 1792), the National Convention instituted a new calendar and declared the beginning of the Year I. The Khmer Rouge takeover of Phnom Penh was rapidly followed by a series of drastic revolutionary de-industrialization policies resulting in a death toll that vastly exceeded that of the French Reign of Terror.

The idea behind Year Zero is that all culture and traditions within a society must be completely destroyed or discarded and a new revolutionary culture must replace it, starting from scratch. All history of a nation or people before Year Zero is deemed largely irrelevant, as it will (as an ideal) be purged and replaced from the ground up.

It was made clear to me that this was what we were talking about for warhammer.Everything that existed being completely destroyed (or discarded) and something new replacing it from scratch ... purged and replaced from the ground up.

I hinted in various posts that they would be getting rid of the existing timeline, the existing map, etc. (In an effort to soften the blow. )

I am going to get this a bit wrong because I honestly can't remember where I heard it but to confirm the three book rumour .... I did hear the "End times" were going to be spread over three books.

Nagash was the first, followed by Malekith followed by Glotkin

Good luck with that!

...You have to ask yourself .... What will remain of the world as we know it when it has been ravaged in turn by the Undead, the Dark Elves, Skaven, and Chaos?

...Whatever 9th is it will be set in the grimmest, darkest post apocalyptic Warhammer fantasy world yet.

You think I haven't had all the same thoughts being voiced on here?

I can't see them throwing out everything they have done either ... but the only way to own the IP is to loose all the generic Fantasy that other companies can copy ... normal Dwarves, Elves and sure as heck you have to get rid of the historical based human armies ... or you can go build an Empire or Bretonnian army from anyone's miniatures.I can't see them getting rid of any armies either ... but they can not continue to support all of them so some of them have to go or some get mashed together.I can't see them wanting to reduce the number of minis you need .... but if it costs too much to complete an army people don't even start an army ...so is it better to sell some minis for a scaled down game or no minis? Is it better to ramp up the Lords and monsters allowance and keep on selling the big kits so an army is 'more tanks and less infantry' and thus less minis and easier to paint .... or sell no minis.Simple fact is so many people have so many armies now unless they do something drastic with the look of the armies no-one is buying enough minis. The only way to force folks to buy new stuff is if we cannot use our current stuff. Some folks may refuse to buy the new stuff on principal ..... what do they care? They were not buying the stuff anyway as they already had their army. Imagine how badly Fantasy must be selling compared to 40K if anyone even thought about knocking it on the head for even a moment .... they must be thinking .... it can't make things any worse!!! What have we got to loose??? But if they are doing this why even bother completing 8th edition? Why do all the books?

I have been around and around with this in my head ..... the only thing that makes any sense to me at the end of the day is that 8th edition is complete enough and robust enough to endure a bit longer and 9th edition will not be a complete new edition of the rules .... but an alternative background and rules with which to play post End times battles but you still need the core rules to play A bit like all the stuff in Strom of Magic was an add on to the existing rules. The core rules and books will still exist for those that want to remain stuck in the timeline but if you want to be down with the cool kids you really need to buy the new post End Times stuff.

-9th edition first quarter summer 2015-20th September Pre order WEOT starter special kit edition, and expanded rules-6 months window release End of Times. Three more books. 13 circa special characters units plastic kits moar.-Sword of khaine plastic big kit wielded by an old elven friend Or foe.-Great chaos.dragon with sc on mount.-Plastic Vermin Lord.-Exalted N Kari and Lord of Change.

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Translation:"There is something we haven't seen yet that will pop out soon enough. A new kind of evil and destruction related to Glotkin.October should be the month of Chaos, the starter kit is there somewhere, I don't know when, the way they told me I thought it would be on september 20th.Chaos book. 2 big boxes. 1 medium-sized box, and a SC (TN: special character) blister.Unholy cards?Will Malus become a daemon prince?Will the cult of slaanesh (TN: Cult of Pleasure) return?Will the anointed druchii come back to obliterate Naggaroth?Will the Nagarythe prophecy become true?Will the old chaos champions return?is the Caledor dragons prophecy finally here?"

As a funny note, a spanish poster answered: "Will orcs become relevant someday?"